


Like a Princess, Mai

by sun_dappled_library



Series: Fire Nation Dawn [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Avatar but Queer, Bisexual Ty Lee (Avatar), F/F, I just Wanted to Expand on Mai (Avatar)'s Character a Bit, Lesbian Mai (Avatar), Mai (Avatar) Throws Knives at People, Mai (Avatar)-Centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:54:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27544171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sun_dappled_library/pseuds/sun_dappled_library
Summary: In which Mai is encountered by a new castle guard and is unnaturally sensitive about her relationship with Ty LeeORIn which Mai likes to throw knives at her ex-boyfriend and occasionally particularly irritating guardsORI feel like they could've done so much more with Mai's character so I fixed it. More to come!ORApproximately 730 words' worth of ATLA being gay.
Relationships: Mai & Ty Lee (Avatar), Mai/Ty Lee (Avatar)
Series: Fire Nation Dawn [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2013352
Comments: 3
Kudos: 13





	Like a Princess, Mai

**Author's Note:**

> Greetings, fellow Sunlings!
> 
> I finished ATLA a while ago and the main thing that really disappointed me about it (don't take me wrong, the show is amazing) was the underdevelopment of Mai and Ty Lee's characters. Also, the underdevelopment of their relationship with each other. 
> 
> So... I made it queer. Very much so.
> 
> This is my first fanfiction that I've published on this site-- I had a lot of fun playing with Mai and Ty Lee's characters as well as the new character of Jie and I hope you enjoy reading it just as much as I did writing it!

Mai was well aware that her mother had named her, in Cantonese, “sleeve of a robe”.

This was why, as she liked to say, she became so skilled with her knifework. Keeping lethal weapons bound around her upper wrists was a sarcastic joke, a prayer of “just in case”, an ironic lash at her godforsaken mother. A party trick. Nothing more. A hobby. A talent. A talent that became an obsession, the source of Mai’s life blood, the pulse running through her veins beating with white-blue flames of fire. 

Show no emotion, Mai. Keep your head up, Mai. Like a princess, Mai. She didn’t even know her own last name.

And then, of course, there was Ty Lee. Silly little Ty Lee, the circus monkey, the one who sang and lept and danced and fought with surprising veracity, the one who knew the human body almost as well as the callouses on her very own palms… There was no doubt about it: Ty Lee was a talented girl. But a party trick. Nothing more.

It seemed natural that Mai would contemplate such things while throwing knives at a painted image of her ex-boyfriend Zuko carved into a chunk of wood. It was a meditative practice, hitting him again and again in his unscarred right eye, steel splitting through steel, the _shhhhhhing_ of metal spinning through air. 

Ever since the defeat of the firelord, Zuko had been distant. _Shhhhhhhing._ Too distant. _Shhhhhhhing._ He hadn’t sent correspondence in nearly six months. Mai would’ve thought they’d be on good terms, but-- _shhhhhhhing_ \-- if she was being honest with herself, she’d barely thought about Zuko in all this time either.  
Mai stopped throwing knives, panting. She knew perfectly well who she had spent the last six months thinking about.  
_Shhhhhhhing_.

The last knife in Mai’s sleeve came flying out of her left hand with incredible speed, stabbing clean through the wooden block and suddenly stopping in midair, caught by some invisible force before it reached the wall of the great hall. 

_Oh, great._

Knife in hand, Jie Yeo-Lin came striding out from behind the image of Zuko, smirking as they leaned against a great golden pillar and ran a hand through their fire-engine red hair. “Seen Ty Lee lately?” 

Mai stiffened at the sight of the newly appointed guard captain, crossing her arms and looking away. “No--” 

“Sure, you haven’t." 

“What in the Fire Nation is that supposed to mean, Jie Yeo-Lin?” 

“It means that I’ve noticed your flirty little dance with the circus monkey. Who hasn’t?” 

Mai sighed. “First of all, only I can call her ‘Circus Monkey’. Coming from you, it just seems…” 

Jie raised their eyebrows, and Mai hastily continued. 

“Secondly, peace is incredibly boring. It’s expected that I spend a little more time with my best friend. And thirdly--” 

“Is that even a word?” 

“I don’t know, what do you expect me to say?” 

“Hmm… maybe ‘Tertiarily.’” Jie unfolded their arms and began to walk towards Mai, a teasing smile playing across their face. 

“You’re insufferable,” Mai scoffed. 

“ _You’re_ insufferable.” 

“Somehow I don’t believe you.” 

“Are you challenging me to an insufferability contest?” 

“Now you’re just being naive.” 

Jie laughed. “Me? Yes, I think it’s quite obvious that I’m the naive one in this situation.” 

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Mai droned. 

“Ever since I was appointed guard, all you’ve done is stare at the Circus Monkey and complain.” 

“DON’T CALL HER THAT!” 

“And now the heart of stone begins to feel.” 

“Do you have any idea what Ty Lee--” 

“I’ve gone through worse.” 

A silence. 

“Though I’ve no doubt that the firelord was quite the opponent for a perpetually unamused girl named Shirtsleeve and another whose greatest strength is acupuncture.” 

“Get off it--” 

“‘Everything’s so boring,’” Jie mocked in an obnoxiously high-pitched tone. “‘Life is so boring, Jie is so boring, peace is boring, war is boring’... WILL YOU EVER STOP AND LOOK AROUND YOU?” In a split second, the smile had melted off their face. “WILL YOU EVER LOVE AND LEARN AND LOOK AND BREATHE OR DO SOMETHING BESIDES THROW KNIVES AT YOUR A WOODEN STATUE IN A SILLY LITTLE GAME?” 

“You sound like Zuko.” 

“ _You’re_ out of knives.” 

A pause. 

“And apparently, you’re out of words too.” Scoffing, Jie turned their back on Mai and waltzed out of the hall, high-heeled leather boots snapping against marble. 


End file.
